ADDHESS 



r.TFK AXD SEin I( ES 



GENERAL JAMES IT. LAXE, 



ARMY NORTHERN VIRGINIA, 



(iET^KRAL \VIL,L,IAM Rl FFIX COX, 

ARMY NORTHERN VIRGINIA. 
DELTVERED BEFORE 

U. K. LKE (AMP ( OXFKDKRATE; VKTErfANS, 

No. 1, 



RICHMOND, VA., DEC KMBFR 4, TOOS. 



ADDRESS. 



My Comrades, Ladies and Gentlemen: 

It is the dictate of reason as well as of affection which 
prompts the devoted daughters of General Lane to present to 
this Camp the portrait of their accomplished father, to speak 
from your walls, already illumined by portraits of many illus- 
trious and patriotic soldiers and statesmen, his and our com- 
patriots ; representatives of that Southland which gave to our 
country Washington, Jeiferson, Marshall, Jackson, Calhoun, 
Clay and, later still, Davis, Lee, Jackson and others, whose 
deeds and fame mark the brightest pages in history — all fit 
examples of that heroic and dominant Anglo-Saxon race 
which, even prior to the days of Runnymede, when it wrested 
the great Writ of Right from a tyrannical king, has been a 
devoted lover of liberty, and Avhich race has found in America 
its purest type in the South, ])()th before and since the War 
Between the States. 

Man is not an isolated being and lives not for himself alone, 
for the history <)f the great and good are incentives to the 
emulation of their achievements. 

I am, however, present not to speculate aud philosophize, 
but to present to this Camp the portrait of General James II. 
Lane and, with your indulgence, to set forth his varied accom- 
plishments as a soldier and a man, which justly entitle it to a 
prominent place in this "Hall of Fame." 

General Lane was small of stature, a little over medium 
height, erect and soldierly in bearing, alert of movement, an 
excellent swordsman, of quiet disposition and a firm discipli- 
narian. 

He possessed the quality of warmly attaching his friends 
and of winning the loA^e and devotion of his soldiers, who, 
Vv^hile severe critics, are quick to discern the merits of a good 
soldier who will lead and sliare with them the dangers of the 



battlefield. They often manifest their attachment to their 
leader by bestowing upon him a "camp name" ; hence "Mars 
Robert/' "Old Stonewall," "Old Jube," and so forth. As 
soon as Major Lane had shown his prowess in his first battle 
they dubbed him "Onr Little Major," and later on "Our 
Little General." 

General Lane was born at Mathews Courthouse, Vii-ginia. 
He was the son of Colonel AValter Gardner and Mary A. H.. 
Barkwell Lane, and, while a modest man, he and his family 
were well pleased to trace their descent from Revolutionary 
and Colonial ancestry. 

lie was a "two-star" graduate of that superb school, the 
Virginia Military Institute," not inappropriately termed the 
"West Point of the South." Subsequently he ])ursned a 
scientific coury(^ at the University of Virginia. Professor 
F. LI: Smith has given so attractive a description of the Gen- 
eral while at this renowned seat of learning that I cannot do 
better than quote from him. He says: "Graduating with 
honors at the Military Institute in 18.^)4, two years later Lane 
catae to the University of Virginia. Tliough he stayed but 
one year (1856-'57), he made his mark, and left in the 
memory of his teachers an abiding respect for his ability and 
solid character. The writer of this sketch enjoyed the privi- 
lege of being the head of one of the schools of the LTniversity 
which Lane attended, and in after years, with others, felt a 
]iride in the distinction gained by his promising pupil." 

After serving on the hydrographic survey of York River, 
Lane was chosen assistant professor of mathematics and tac- 
tics at the Virginia Military Institute, which rounded out his 
education and well qualified him for the duties he was subse- 
quently called upon to undertake. 

Plutarch never fails to enumerate, wlien the case of his 
hero permits it, the advantage of being born in a State where 
native talent is cherished. While General Lane was for- 
tunate in being reared and educated in his native State, 
where he might n^ceive inspiration from the examples and 



achievements of the great men and noble women of this grand 
old Commonwealth, yet circumstances decreed that he must 
seek his fortune among strangers. 

In the Old ISTorth State he found a home and congenial 
occupation. In that State there w^ere no large cities, with 
their advantages of literary culture, historical research and 
social intercourse, and for over a century no competent his- 
torian had arisen to exploit the achievements of her sons, 
their virtues and their love of liberty, her soldiers, statesmen 
and jurists, of whom there were many of more than national 
fame. John Eandolph said of Mr. Macon that ''he was the 
wisest man he ever knew," and Mr. Benton declared him 
"the last of the liomans," yet to this day no complete biogi-a- 
phy of this distinguished man has been written. 

As it was said of old, "While Greece made history, Athens 
wrote it," so it may be said of ISTorth Carolina that, while she 
contributed so largely to populate, civilize and upbuild the 
nation, it was reserved for comparatively modern research to 
remove the moss from her archives and bring to light her 
valuable history, her struggles with her warlike Indian tribes, 
her contribution to the ill-fated Carthagena Expedition, the 
part borne by her soldiers under Braddoek with Washington 
at Dnquesne, her aid to George Rogers Clarke in conquering 
the great Northwest and adding it to the domain of Virginia, 
which that State generously surrendered to the General Gov- 
ernment for the public good. 

The part North Carolina bore in the Revolutionary struggle 
is too well known to need mention here. Suffice it to say that 
Bancroft, the historian, has declared "These people were al- 
ways devoted to liberty." 

It was among these people that General Lane Avas called to 
acce])t the chair of philosophy in the Military School at Char- 
lotte, North Carolina, an institution presided over by D. II. 
Hill, later a lieutenant-general. Hill was a graduate of West 
Point and had won distinction and promotion in the Mexican 
War. He and General Jackson were brothers-in-law and 



were warm friends ; and, inasmuch as Lane was the pupil of 
the latter, and afterwards a professor with Jackson at the 
Military Institute, it is probable that it was through his 
appreciation and recommendation that Lane secured a pro- 
fessorship in that admirable institution. 

We have now reached that period in the life of Professor 
Lane when he is about to enter upon his military career in the 
War Between the States. ISTearly two generations have come 
and gone since the conflict of arms began, and it seems ap- 
propriate that the events which led to this mighty struggle 
should be reviewed, for, however distinguished may have been 
General Lane's career in war, his right to our admiration 
must rest upon the merits of the cause he espoused. 1 will 
therefore briefly state these facts. I say briefly because the 
occasion will not permit of extended treatment. 

The thirteen colonies were formed by grants from the 
mother country and were dependent on the crown of Great 
Britain, each with its own separate and distinct government. 
• At the time of the Declaration of Independence the slave 
trade was a subject of lawful commerce, recogTiized by the 
laws and practice of mankind. Indeed, in the past, Queen 
Elizabeth had knighted Sir John Hawkins for his success in 
this trafiic, which had greatly increased the royal revenue. 
The Declaration of Independence was drafted by a slave- 
holder and adopted by the representatiA-es of slaveholders. 
At that time the colonies had no common government ; the 
articles of confederation were submitted to the representatives 
of the States and finally adopted by all in 1781. 

During the Revolutionary AVar the strongest bond that 
held these States together was that of common danger; but 
after the war the articles of union which had then sufiiced were 
found inadequate for the demand of peace. AMiat was to be 
done ? A convention was summoned ''to form a more perfect 
union," the delegates to which were elected by the Legislature 
of each sovereign State. After this work was completed it 
was submitted to each State for ratification or rejection. The 



adoption by nine out of the thirteen States was necessary for 
its acceptance. Should any States fail to adopt it they 
would retain their sovereignty and independence, and there 
was no purpose to coerce them into the Union. 

It was twelve months before ISTorth Carolina consented to 
the adoption of the Constitution and two years before Hhode 
Island took a similar step. Indeed, several of the States, 
notably Virginia and New York, only consented to enter this 
Union with the reservation ''That the powers granted under 
the Constitution, being derived from the people of the United 
States, may be resumed by them whensoever the same shall be 
perverted to their injury or oppression, and that every power 
not granted thereby remains with them and at their will ; that 
therefore no right of any denomination can be cancelled, 
abridged, restrained or modified by the Congress," etc. 

The debates in the convention which framed the Constitu- 
tion show that the whole subject of slavery was carefully and 
painfully discussed, and had it been forced to an issue would 
have resulted in the defeat of the Constitution. 

The trend of public thought was tending towards emanci- 
pation, and some representatives from the slaveholding States 
thought the power to abolish it ought to be given to the Fed- 
eral Government. That this power was not given to the Fed- 
eral Government was one of the chief objections by Luther 
Martin to its ratification. Mr. Mason and Mr. Madison 
sympathized in the emancipation movement, and it found 
stronger support at the South than it did among many dele- 
gates from the New England States. Mr. Jefferson was 
among the strong ' advocates for its restriction. Sufiice it, 
these views were not those of the collective body whose duty 
it was to make the government. 

In the meantime many of the so-called free States, finding 
this institution an encumbrance instead of a blessing, by 
prospective legislation emancipated their slaves. Many of 
the Northern slaveholders, taking advantage of this pros- 
pective emancipation, were enabled to send South their slaves 



6 

and dispose of them to the Southern planter, where the de- 
velopment in the production of indigo, tobacco and cotton 
rendered the employment of African slavery highly profit- 
able. 

Another question which greatly perplexed and embarrassed 
the collective delegates was this : Should the Federal Govern- 
ment at any time enact legislation which should prove detri- 
mental and destructive for the best interests of the minority, 
wdiat provision should be made for the determination of their 
rights — where should the appeal lie ? 

The idea of the consolidating party was that the question 
of determining when the government should override its au- 
thority was to be left to the Federal Government ; whereas 
the States' rights party insisted that the provision in the Con- 
stitution which declared that the section which provided that 
"The powers not herein delegated to the United States hy the 
Constitution 7ior prohibited hy it to the States were reserved 
to the States, respectively, or to the people thereof," left the 
question with the injured party. So embarrassing was this 
question that it likewise was left for future determination. 
Had it been forced to an issue, this would also have led to a 
defeat of the Constitution. 

The Federal idea of a centralized government, as under- 
stood and exercised by the elder Adams, viz., in the passage 
of the "alien and sedition laws" and the suppression of the 
liberty of the press, was so obnoxious to the great body of the 
American people that he was overwhelmingly defeated for re- 
election by Mr. Jefferson, who represented the States' rights 
party, and by successive elections the Jeffersonian construc- 
tion was upheld and sustained until the election of Mr. Lin- 
coln, who, while failing to receive a popular majority by a 
million of votes, nevertheless secured the presidency. 

The establishment of "Mason and Dixon's Line," which 
provided that all States north of that line should be free States 
and all States south of that line slave States, instead of quiet- 
ing the slavery agitation, virtually divided our country into 



two separate peoples. It increased the aj^itation at the North, 
where some declared that there was a ''higher law" than the 
Constitution ; others, that they would have an 'Smti-slavery 
Constitution, an anti-slavery Bible and an anti-slavery God," 
and others at the North insisted they would have "no Union 
with slaveholders or slave States," and that those who stood 
for the Constitution and enforcement of the la^v■s were "dough- 
faces," and that the slaveholders were an idle, worthless set, 
who lived upon the labors of others. 

Meeting reviling with reviling, the people of the South 
called the peo})le of the North "Black Republicans," a set of 
"shopkeepers and craftsmen," who vvorshipped the "almighty 
dollar" more than the dictates of an enlightened conscience. 

The estrangement between the sections became more and 
more bitter, and was intensified at each recurring election 
through the employment of opprobrious epithets and mislead- 
ing caricatures, until social intercourse between political par- 
ties at Washington was virtually at an end, and personal 
threats and physical encounters occurred in the halls of Con- 
gress. 

The invasion of the sovereign State of Virginia by John 
Brown and his band of outlaws, with the avowed purpose of 
inciting insurrection among our slaves, intensified sectional 
feeling and alarm on the part of the South — especially when 
it became known that when the leader of this invasion was 
executed for violating the laws of the land he was held up as 
a martyr ; and, furthermore, a Governor of one of the original 
thirteen States (Massachusetts), which had actively partici- 
pated in the slave trade, was elected on account of his strong 
sympathy with these outlaws. 

The National Democratic party, whose nominations and 
elections were made irrespective of section, became demoral- 
ized through too much confidence in its success, even when its 
ranks were disorganized. It was startled and amazed, in 
common with the conservative leaders of both sections, to dis- 
cover that the candidate of a purely sectional party had for 



the first time in our history secured a majority of the elec- 
toral college, not one of the electors coming from the South. 

Before this election ten Northern States, by the adoption 
of the so-called "personal liberty bills," had set at naught the 
"fugitive slave law," notwithstanding it had been reasserted 
and strengthened by the compromise of 1850, which compro- 
mise was supported by that grand triumvirate, Webster, Clay 
and Calhoun, as well as by other patriotic statesmen of ability 
and renown. 

It was in reference to this very matter that Mr. Webster, in 
a speech delivered at Capon Springs, Virginia, in 1851, de- 
clared : * * * "I have not hesitated to say, and I repeat, 
if the JSTorthern States refuse willfully and deliberately to 
carry into eifect that part of the Constitution which respe.cts 
the restoration of fugitive slaves, and Congress provides no 
remedy, the South would no longer be bound to observe the 
compact. A bargain cannot be broken on one side and still 
bind the other side." * * * 
♦ It is insisted that Mr. Webster's course on this subject was 
not consistent. Very true, but his later convictions tended 
more and more in favor of the Southern view. 

While slavery was not the cause of the war, it was employed 
by the Northern press and agitators as a means of solidifying 
the jSTorth against the South, and by persistent misrepresenta- 
tion to win the sympathy of the outer world. 

The debates in the convention which made the Constitution 
of the United States demonstrate that the jealousy of sections 
was even then flagrant. The South was the more prosperous 
and the more conciliatory, and, to avoid intensifying this feel- 
ing of sectionalism, what was termed the "balance of power" 
was arrived at. 

Mr. Madison insisted, "Whenever there is danger of at- 
tack, there should be a constitutional power of defense." 

!Xo principle could be clearer, for, as government is estab- 
lished for the protection of the weak, and no tyranny is more 
absolute and unrelenting than the tyranny of mere numbers, 



9 

protection is indispensable to escape the aggressions of the 
powerful. Tn relation to these considerations, Mr. Hamilton 
said, "It is a contest for power and not liberty" ; and, said 
Mr. Madison, "It is of great importance in a republic to guard 
one part of society against the injustice of another part." 
These axiomatic truths were veritable ''apples of gold" turned 
to ashes upon Southern lips through ^sTorthern aggressions, by 
abuse and slander of the Soiith, its institutions, the open vio- 
lation of the spirit of the Constitution, discriminating legis- 
lation, and war against the institution of slavery. 

At the election of Mr. Lincoln, and before his inaugura- 
tion, the cotton and g^df States withdrew from the Union and 
set up a government at j\Iontgomery, owing in part to the 
views as above stated. 

In taking this step, notwithstanding their justification, in 
my opinion, they made a great mistake, as, had they stood 
together with their friends in the ISTorth and in the border 
States, they might possibly have defeated the machinations of 
their sectional foes. At least it was vrorth a further trial. 
Tliey, however, thought otherwise. 

These States, which comprised many of our ablest states- 
men, though under much provocation, did not proceed without 
carefid deliberation. They knew the Constitution was estab- 
lished "to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure 
domestic tranquillity." They had seen the Union endangered, 
decisions of the highest courts set at naught, and domestic 
tranquillity imperiled by a "higher-law party," and unseemly 
Avrangles on the floor of Congress, and they felt that their 
liberties were endangered. They deemed it more conducive 
to the public welfare to withdraw from the Union and set up 
a government of their own, possibly with the idea that a re- 
action in public sentiment at the ^N^orth might justify their 
return to the Union. The course pursued by the General 
Government toward Maryland and other border States during 
the progress of the war would seem to huxe negatived sucli a 
hope, provided it ever obtained. 



10 

The inaugural address of Mr. Lincoln was not reassuring 
to the friends of the Union, either in the I^orth or South. 
The treatment of the commissioners from the seceding States 
by his Secretary of State, Mr. Seward, to say the least, was 
ambiguous and irritating. Many hoped and believed the 
spirit of compromise and conciliation which led to the forma- 
tion of the Constitution might bridge over our troubles. A 
like course in 1820 had resulted in the Missouri Compromise; 
the nullification trouble was thus avoided and the compromise 
of 1850 prevailed. 

General Scott, Judge Douglas, Horace Greely and others 
advised a policy of pacification, and, knowing that the non- 
enforcement of a right is not its abandonment, recommended 
that the small garrison in Charleston harbor be withdrawn. 
In the meantime Mr. Lincoln was visited by the "seven Gov- 
ernors from the l^orth," who urged a strenuous policy. To 
what end ? Was it to save the LTnion or was it to strengihen 
and build up their sectional party, which had at length 
achieved a victory over the South, a reaction against which 
was beginning to appear ? In any event, his policy hence- 
forth was more vigorous in preparing for the conflict. His 
friends ascribe to him as a great merit the questionable fact 
of so maneuvering that he forced the South to strike the first 
blow. 

The firing on Fort Sumter was generally received with re- 
gret and amazement, but subsequent appeals to the passions 
of the l^orth against firing on the flag aroused a feeling of 
resentment which destroyed all efforts for peace. In the end 
the greatest agitator and ablest orator of the North, Wendell 
Phillips, was enabled to exclaim, "Thank God, we at last have 
a Northern party !" 

The proclamation of Mr. Lincoln calling for troops to 
make war upon the seceding States aroused a spirit of resist- 
ance in all of the border States difficult to realize in these 
days of peace and prosperity with which our country is now 
blessed. A spirit manifested on the part of the South is well 



I 



11 

described by one who participated in the war, as follows: 
"Every man became a laborer, every woman a worker. There 
was nothing that the necessities of life demanded that we did 
not fashion with our own hands. Deprived of all support 
from the outside world, we dug from our own hills and 
wrested from our soil and evoked from resources the measure 
and extent of which we had never dreamed before whatever 
was necessary for the loved ones at home and the armies main- 
tained in the field. We illustrated a heroism and a valor 
which is the admiration of the world and the highest pride of 
our gallant adversaries. They conquered no ignoble foe." 

The war being over, with resolution and determined 
strength the Confederates leaped into civil life and carved 
out the wonderful resources of the South, to the wonder and 
admiration of mankind. These resources are indeed inesti- 
mable. 

On the part borne by General Lane in the War Between the 
States it is needless for me to more than briefly linger. 

The most impartial of ISTorthern historians, Swinton, in his 
"Army of the Potomac," speaks of us as "that body of in- 
comparable infantry," that array of "tattered uniforms and 
bright muskets," which for four long and weary years under 
Lee upheld the cause of our young Confederacy, "which rose 
so fair and fell so free of crime" ; as having been borne "on its 
bayonets, opposing a stout front to the mighty concentration 
of power brought against it, which, receiving terrible blows, 
did not fail to give the like, and which, vital in every part, 
died only with its annihilation." 

The fame of Lee's army is world-wide. The historian, the 
poet and orator have united in its eulogy, and any endeavor 
that I might make to add to its praise would but result in re- 
peating what has been already better said by others. 

Beneath the smooth and quiet surface of the North C-aro- 
linian there has always existed a military zeal and ardor 
Avhich then found expression in the formation of local militia 
companies, uniformed and sustained by local contributions. 



12 

The election of Mr. Lincoln, who was known to be hostile 
to the institutions of the South and who owed his success in 
the main to a virile and aggressive element in his party, natu- 
rally produced much uneasiness among the ablest and most 
conservative men of the country. These aforesaid militia 
organizations were composed of the flower of our young men, 
both officers and privates, many of whom were college gradu- 
ates and representative of the substantial interest of their 
communities. 

Upon the refusal of Governor Ellis to comply with the 
President's call for troops to war upon sister States, he im- 
mediately convened the General Assembly, which took the 
State of ISTorth Carolina out of the Union and also called for 
thirty thousand volunteer troops to repel invasion. 

The officers of the Charlotte Military Institute promptly 
tendered their services. A camp of instruction was organ- 
ized at Raleigh, of which D. H. Hill became commandant and 
Lane adjutant and instructor in tactics. Soon a regiment 
was formed of six-months volunteers, of which Hill was 
elected colonel and Lane major. , 

The Bethel Regiment volunteered on the I7th day of Aprils 
1861, and soon after left for Richmond. 

On passing through Petersburg, The Express of the 2 2d of 
April has this to say: * * * "iSTorth Carolina marshals 
her bravest and her best for the coming conflict, and sends to 
Virginia soldiers who will uphold and transmit to posterity 
the enviable glory and fame of their patriotic sires. Drilled 
to perfection and armed to the full, with brave hearts to lead 
and brave hearts to follow, they will do their duty, and that 
nobly." * * * 

Says The Richmond Examiner of the 23d of April ; * * * 
"Without waiting for the form of legal secession, she com- 
menced sending her gallant sons to join those already in the 
field. * * * Those who saw their close columns and steady 
march as they marched down Main Street in perfect order, 
their polished muskets glittering in the dim moonlight, de- 



13 

scribe the scene as almost spectral in its appearance, so regu- 
lar and orderly were its movements." 

At this time the citizens of the southeastern portion of Vir- 
ginia were greatly annoyed and alarmed by marauding par- 
ties sent out by General B. F. Butler, who had a large force 
with him at Fortress ]\Ionroe. 

Colonel Hill's regiment, consisting of some eight hundred 
men, with the Howitzers' Battery, under comnumd of Major 
Randolph, together -with other troops, numbering in all about 
fifteen hundred, the whole under command of Colonel Magru- 
der, were promptly dispatched to the Peninsula. They pitched 
camp at "Big Bethel" and immediately commenced fortifying 
and entrenching, working night and day, to be ready to repel 
any attack that might be made by the enemy. 

Pretty soon Major Lane, with a detachment of one com- 
pany of his regiment and one g-un of the Plowitzers, was sent 
out to chastise a marauding party. So fearlessly did they 
attack these marauders that they soon put them to flight and 
vigorously pursued them across Newmarket Bridge, up and 
even into the very face of the enemy's camp. 

Butler, incensed by this brave and fearless demonstration, 
sent forward a force of 4,400 men to "chastise these rebels," 
destroy their encampment and spike their guns; but they 
found the "lowlands in battle array." 

After an engagement of some two hours' duration, the Fed- 
erals, being pretty severely punished, were rehietant to con- 
tinue the attack further. \Yhen ]\rajor Winthrop, vainly 
urging forward his force, mounted a log in the presence of 
Confederate troops and fell back mortally w^ounded, the battle 
ceased. The retreat of the enemy, who commenced carrying 
off their dead and wounded, soon became disorderly and ended 
in a virtual rout. 

When the smoke arose from the victorious battlefield of the 
Confederates it was discovered that they had sustained the 
loss of but one man killed, a ]u-ivate, the brave and courageous 
Wyatt, who had volunteered with three others, namely, Wil- 



14 

Hams, Thorpe and Bradley, all of Captain John L. Bridgers' 
Edgecombe Gnard, to set fire to a building from which the 
enemy was firing into our lines. Our wounded consisted of 
some eight or more. 

Wyatt was the first soldier of the Coiifederacy who had 
fallen in regular battle, and this was the first battle which 
took place between the opposing forces of the war. 

The moral, military and political effect of this battle was 
most marked. The Southerners were enthused ; the i^Torth- 
erners cast down. The Northern press called for the recogni- 
tion of the South or sending to the front a general more com- 
petent than Butler to command the Union army. 

During the six months of its exist(^nce this regiment was a 
virtual camp of instruction ; it furnished to the Confederacy 
135 commissioned ofiicers, comprising a lieutenant-general, 
two major-generals and three brigadier-generals, with others 
of lower rank. 

A vacancy occurring by promotion in the office of lieutenant- 
cojonel, the capacity shown by Lane resulted in his promotion 
to supply the vacancy in September, 1861. Later on he was 
elected to the colonelcy of the Twenty-seventh Regiment. 
This honor was bestowed, notwithstanding he had but two 
acquaintances in the regiment. 

On leaving his old command, as a mark of esteem and high 
appreciation of his soldierly qualities, he was presented by its 
ofiicers with a sword, bridle and saddle. Lie early inspired 
his new command with such esprit de corps that, upon the 
expiration of its twelve months' term of service, it promptly 
re-enlisted for the war. 

He was now in the brigade of L. O'B. Branch, formerly a 
distinguished member of Congress, whom, upon his making 
known his purpose to resign and offer his services to his State, 
President Buchanan was so anxious to dissuade from resign- 
ing that he offered him a place in his Cabinet. He was, how- 
ever, too loyal to his State to suff^er personal preferment to 
dissuade him from his conviction of duty. 



15 

In the engagement with tlie troops of General Fitz John 
Porter at Hanover Courthonse, 27th May, 1862, Lane was 
cnt off from his command, with great danger of captnre. But 
so skillfnlly did he extricate his troops that he was compli- 
mented and congratulated by General Lee and other superior 
officers. 

His regiment, with Branch's brigade, was the first to cross 
the Chickahominy and thus clear the way for A. P. Hill's 
division. 

In the battles of Mechanicsville and Cold Harbor, June 
26th and 27th, Lane was wounded in the head. 

In the battle of Frazier's Farm, while charging a battery, 
he was painfully wounded in the cheek. 

With his brigade he was in the battle of Cedar Run, where, 
by repulsing the enemy's infantry and cavalry, he aided in 
restoring Jackson's disordered left. 

At Manassas Junction, Aug-ust 26th, Lane took part in the 
defeat and pursuit of Taylor's New Jersey brigade. 

He supported the left of Jackson's corps at Manassas Plains 
and engaged in that series of hard-fought battles, August 28th, 
29th and 30th, which resulted in our magnificent victory. 

During a pouring rain he participated in the battle of Ox 
Llill, near Fairfax Courthouse, on the night of the 11th of 
September, which scored another victory for the Confederates. 

With his brigade he scaled the heights of the Shenandoah 
and aided in the capture of Harper's Ferry, which resulted in 
the surrender of eleven thousand handsomely unifonned sol- 
diers, equipped with improved Enfield' rifles, whereupon Lane 
exchanged his old-fashioned guns for these improved arms. 

Hurrying forward with A. P. Hill's light division to 
Sharpsburg, where Lee's sore-pressed, attenuated lines, with 
bulldog courage, were barely holding their own, he aided in 
repulsing Burnside's attack on the right and gave hope and 
inspiration to our troops. 

Here the gallant and patriotic Branch fell, mortally 
wounded, and Lane took command of the brigade on the field. 



16 

and it was one of the three brigades that constituted the rear 
guard of the Army of ISTorthern Virginia when Lee recrossed 
the Potomac. 

Lane commanded the brigade on the 20th of September at 
Shepherdstown and aided in routing and driving the enemy 
across the Potomac, "in the face of a storm of round shot, 
shell and grape" from the opposite shore of the river. 

Upon the petition of the officers of the brigade and the 
endorsement of Generals Lee, Jackson and Hill, Lane was 
promoted to a brigadiership, the coveted wreath gracing his 
collar, and he was assigned to the command of Branch's old 
brigade, with the officers and soldiers of which he had fought 
many a battle and achieved many victories. 

Lane bore a conspicuous part in the crushing defeat of the 
Federals at Fredericksburg in December, 1862. 

Here again the officers of the brigade honored themselves 
by bestowing upon Lane a testimonial of their confidence in 
and respect to him as their commander and of esteem for his 
m^ny gentlemanly and soldierly qualities. 

General Lane took a prominent part in that series of battles, 
May 1, 2 and 3, 1863, at Chancellorsville. 

On the night of the 2d his brigade, unaided, repulsed 
Sickles' formidable "midnight attack" and captured the colors 
of the Third Maine Regiment, together with a number of 
officers and men. 

At Gettysburg he was conspicuous for his daring and reck- 
less exposure of himself. On the 3d, while fighting on Pick- 
ett's left and encouraging his weary but none the less cour- 
ageous soldiers, he had his horse shot from under him. 

Lane's brigade confronted and skirmished ^vith the enemy 
in front of Hagerstown and was the rear guard of that part of 
Lee's army which crossed the Potomac at Falling ^Yaters, and 
v/as highly complimented by his division commander. 

Only a soldier can appreciate the resourcefulness, the forti- 
tude and skill required of a commander to accomplish a sue- 



lY 

cessfnl retreat when vigoronslj'' pursued by the enemy. Lane 
possessed such qualifications. 

In the battles of the Wilderness, May 5th and 6tli, 1S64, 
Lane took an active part. He opened a destructive fire on his 
too confident foe on the afternoon of the 5tli and held him in 
check until other troops arrived during the night. 

At Spotsylvania he was daily engaged from the 12th to the 
21st of Hay. 

When Ed. Johnson's trooj)s were surprised and overwhelmed 
at the "Bloody Angle" on the early morning of the 12th, 
amidst a dense fog, Lane was on his right in the advance line. 
He promptly drew his troops back to an incompleted line at 
right angles to Hancock's advancing columns. Forming his 
men into double ranks, the front rank fired while those in the 
rear speedily loaded and exchanged guns with the front rank. 
So hot and destructiA^e was this fire that the enemy was held 
in check until the arrival of Gordon's troops. 

Said a correspondent of a London paper, then pn^sent : 
"Lane's IsTorth Carolina veterans successfully stemmed the 
tide of Federal victory as it went surging to the right." 

The same afternoon Lane was directed to cross the line at 
the left of the courthouse and attack Burnside in the flank. 
So successfully did he execute this order that he captured 
three or four hundred prisoners, three stands of colors and a 
battery of six guns. Through Colonel Venable, of his staif, 
General Lee thanked General Lane and complimented the 
brigade for its gallant charge. 

In the second battle of Cold Harbor Lane was so danger- 
ously wounded that he was not expected to live, bufhis brave 
heart and resolute purpose overcame his physical injury, and, 
rapidly recovering, he was back in time to take part with his 
brigade in the battle of Jones' and Pegram's farms. 

When General Gordon made his disastrous attack on Fort 
Steadman (Hare's Hill), Grant not only repulsed this attack 
with heavy loss to us, but, by a counter-attack and with re- 



18 

inforcements, swept off the whole of the Confederate skir- 
mishers from Hatcher's Run to Lieutenant Run. 

Next daj (General Wilcox being sick) General Lee put 
Lane in charge of the division, with orders to restore the line 
in front of the division, which he did. 

A portion of his brigade took part in the defense of Fort 
Gregg, which was one of the most thrilling and resolute en- 
gagements in the closing hours of the war. 

After the evacuation of Petersburg and Lee's retreat to 
Appomattox, Lane's command did its full duty, and among 
the Confederates paroled at Appomattox his brigade stands 
conspicuous. 

General Grant was magnanimous at the time of our sur- 
render, and on all occasions endeavored to see justice done the 
South, even ^'when friends were few." 

Anything he might have said concerning Gonfed(>rate mat- 
ters about the closing hours of the war is of abiding interest 
to its survivors. 

I therefore quote the following detached extracts, taken 
from a conversation had with him during his tour around 
the world : 

He said he was so far from his base that, ''If Lee had con- 
tinued his flight another day, I should have had to abandon 
the pursuit, fall back to Danville, build the railroad and feed 
my army." * * * 

Again, "The war was a tremendous strain upon the coun- 
try. Rich as we were, I do not now see how we could have 
endured it another year, even from a financial point of view." 

Lie said it was not his object to defeat Lee in active battle. 
That might have resulted in a dispersion of his army and 
encounters with g-uerilla bands. 

His purpose was to remove Lee and his army out of the 
contest, and, if possible, have him use his great influence in 
inducing the surrender of Johnston's and other isolated 
armies. 

Colonel Marshall, of Lee's staff, is my authority for the 



19 

statement that at the surrender Grant urged Lee to see Lin- 
coln, and wliatever terms of pacification thev agreed upon 
the country would uphold. 

Grant little understood the depth of selfishness that 
prompted political agitators and plethoric contractors to pro- 
long the war. Indeed, it was the fear at the North that the 
extra constitutional methods practiced at the South might 
imperil their own liberties that rescued us from further per- 
secution. 

Speaking of the proposition to arrest General Lee and 
bring him to trial for treason, Grant said ; * * * '"On one 
occasion Mr. Johnson (in the presence of his Cabinet) spoke 
of Lee and wanted to know why any military commander had 
a right to protect an archtraitor from the law. I was angi'y," 
he adds, "at this, and spoke earnestly and plainly to the 
President and told him ""'' * * I had made certain terms 
with Lee — the best and only terms. If I had told him and 
his anny that their liberties would be invaded, that they 
would be open to arrest, trial and execution for treason, Lee 
would never have surrendered, and we should have lost many 
lives in destroying him. Now, my terms of surrender were 
according to military law, and so long as Lee was observing 
his parole I would never consent to his arrest." The subject 
was dropped. Grant at this time was Commander-in-Chief 
of tlie United States Army. 

Of President Davis he said: * * * "'The war was a 
tremendous war, and no one knew better than those who w^ere 
in it. Davis did all he could, and all any man could, for the 
South. The South was beaten from the beginning. * * * 
Davis did all he could for his side, and how much he did no 
one knows better than those that were in the field. * * * 
Davis is entitled to every honor bestowed on the South for 
gallantry and persistence. The attacks upon him from his 
old followers are ignoble." 

Having accompanied General Lane from Big Bethel to 
Appomattox, his military career here closes ; but, as a tribute 



20 

from General Lee to an officer under his command was an 
honor never unworthily bestowed, it was recognized by all as 
deserving of being treasured for all time. I will, therefore, 
close this sketch by quoting from General Lee a tribute paid 
Lane's brigade near the close of the war. It is true, in this 
particular engagement, Lane, on account of wounds, did not 
participate ; yet, as a commanding officer is the matrix from 
which the spirit and determination displayed by his troops in 
action are derived, he is entitled to credit for their gallantry, 
whether present or not. 

This hard-fought and successful battle, resulting in the 
defeat of "Hancock, the Superb," mark you, took place after 
the fall of Vicksburg and the disaster at Gettysburg, and 
shows that even the declining fortunes of the Confederacy, of 
which every soldier knew, detracted nothing from his purpose 
to do and dare wherever Lee bade him go. 

In his correspondence with the Governor of North Caro- 
lina, General Lee writes as follows : 

• riEADQUARTEES AeMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA, 

August 2!), 1S64. 
His Excellency, Z. B. Vance, Governor, 

Raleigh, North Carolina. 
Dear Sir: — I have frequently been called upon to mention the ser- 
vices of North Carolina soldiers, but their gallantry and conduct were 
never more deserving of admiration than in their engagement at 
Reams' Station on the 2.")th ult. 

The brigade of Generals Cooke, McRae and Lane, the last under the 
command of Genex-al Conner, advanced under a thick abatis of felled 
trees, under heavy fire of musketry and artillery, and carried the 
enemy's works with the steady courage that elicited the warm com- 
mendation of their corps and division commanders and the admira- 
tion of the army. * * * 

Your obedient servant, 

R. E. Lee, 
CONCLUSION. General. 

The war was over and peace restored. In council and in 
the field the Confederate soldier has proved liimself as faith- 
ful to the United States as he was devoted to the Confederacy. 

With stout arm and brave heart he renewed the struggle 



21 

for bread, and gloriously won; and this has been accom- 
plished though environed with nnusual conditions, too tragic 
to dwell upon. 

In the words of a gallant Confederate, now Chief Justice 
of my State, "Unawed by the garrisons of the victorious army, 
and unseduced by the blandishments and temptations offered 
him, these soldiers took their stand for Anglo-Saxon suprem- 
acy and saved the South from the fate of Hayti and the AVest 
Indies." 

General Lane returned to his desolated ancestral home, 
where his parents had remained, almost heartbroken at their 
loss of two promising and courageous sons who had fallen in 
battle fighting bravely by his side. 

Deciding to pursue the vocation of a teacher, we next see 
him a professor in the struggling Virginia Agricultural and 
Mechanical College at Blacksburg. He became later on 
superintendent of the Virginia Mining and Manufacturing- 
Company, until its works were destroyed by fire. 

Mr. Davis, in a letter from Beauvoir, July, 1886^ pajs 
the following tribute to Lane : "Endeared to me as he is by 
his services to the South, where he was the youngest brigadier 
in the Confederate army, I admit that I feel a warm interest 
in his success, not for himself alone, but also as a good exam- 
ple for the youth of the State I love so ^vell." 

At the time of his death Lane was and had been for some 
time professor of important branches of the Agricultural and 
Mechanical College of Alabama (now Polytechnic Institute), 
with over seven hundred students in attendance. 

He was fortunate in his marriage to Miss Charlotte Ran- 
dolph Meade, of Richmond, who was of old Virginia ancestry. 

Lane remembered his Creator in the days of his youth 
and embraced the faith of the Protestant Episcopal Church. 

When called upon to join his comrades then resting be- 
neath the "dew and the sod," with the beautiful and impres- 
sive ceremonies of his church, in the presence of his sorrowing 
daughters and of a large concourse of friends whom he had 



22 

served so long and so acceptably, his body Avas committed to 
the ground- — "Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust." 

On behalf and in the name of the daughters of General 
James H. Lane, I present to R. E. Lee Camp, ]S[o. 1, Con- 
federate Veterans, the portrait of our cherished comrade, to 
take its place upon your walls with those of many gallant 
Confederates already assembled here, whose 

"Bones are dust 
And their good swords rust. 
Whose souls ax"e %yith the saints. I trust." 



ADDENDA. 

In the course of my achlress I stated that the Senators who 
withdrew from the Senate of the Imited vStates in the session 
of 1861, and who stood upon the floor of that distinguished 
body at that time and vindicated their cause, did not act with- 
out care and deliberation^ — that they constituted, taken alto- 
^gether, such an assemblage of ability and learning as seldom, 
if ever, graced that hall. 

In substantiation of this claim, I need only menticm their 
names ; for, as is known, the story of their lives constitutes 
the brightest and most dramatic page in the history of this 
country. Among those who represented the South in this 
Congress were the following Senators, namely: R. M. T, 
Hunter and James M. Mason, of Virginia ; Tliomas Bragg 
and Thomas L. Ciingman, of ISTorth Carolina ; Clement C. 
Clay, Jr., and Benjamin Fitzpatrick, of Alabama ; Albert G. 
Brown and Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi; Alfred Iverson 
and Robert Toombs, of Georgia ; Lazarus W. Powell and 
John J. Crittenden, of Kentucky ; David L. Yulee and Ste- 
phen K. Mallory, of Florida; John Hemphill and Louis T. 
Wigfall, of Texas. All of them did not Avithdraw until each 
of their States had concluded to secede. 

The Vice-President, though but thirty-five years of age, 
had filled many posts of honor. He was the paragon of man- 



liness — a chevalier, soldier, orator and statesman, and pos- 
sessed of extraordinary popularity. 

"No Senator," as was said of him, "ever stood upon the 
floor of the United States Senate, in the flush of manhood, 
with a greater future before him, with higher aspirations, 
greater opportunities, with so many honors in store as seemed 
before John C. Breckinridge in this hour of his fame and his 
power." 

lie, elected to the United States Senate to take his seat in 
that body after the expiration of his term as Vice-President, 
had already seen, while presiding over that body, a determina- 
tion on the part of the majority to trample the Constitution 
under its feet and conduct the govi-rnment regardless of its 
provisions. 

It was only through the urgent persuasion of many devoted 
frien<ls that he consented to enter that body in the vain hope 
of rendering them some jn-otection. 

After struggling together with those who still respected the 
constitutional guarantees, he in the end withdrew, and, in 
doing so, declared : ''If the Commonwealth of Kentucky, in- 
stead of attempting to mediate in this unfortunate struggle, 
shall throw her energies into the strife and approve the con- 
duct and sustain the policy of the Federal administration in 
what I believe to be a war of subjugation and annihilation, 
she may take her course. I am her son and shall share her 
destiny, but she will be recognized by some other man on the 
floor of this Senate." 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



013 700 378 qW 



JRY OF CONGRESS 



'^ 8 



